A three-day-old newborn girl stolen by a woman from the MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Odisha’s Berhampur on Saturday was rescued by the police in the early hours of Sunday.
A 20-year-old married woman, who had taken away the baby, was taken into custody for interrogation by personnel of the Baidyanathpur police station in Berhampur. The city police had formed two special teams to track down the stolen newborn. The baby was rescued from the house of a cousin of the accused at Kanisi on the outskirts of Berhampur. The rescued baby was immediately handed over to her parents.
Speaking to newsmen, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Berhampur, Santanu Dash said the accused was from Narayanpur village under the Buguda police station limits of Ganjam district. She got married three years ago at a young age and a few weeks back her newborn child died after birth. “This seems to have led to extreme mental tension of the woman that led her to commit this crime,” said the ASP. But investigation and interrogation is on to ascertain the reason behind the theft of the newborn girl from the hospital, he added.
FIR filed
Theft of this newborn had created tension at the medical college and hospital on Saturday. Apart from parents of the stolen child, local Congress leaders had also filed an FIR at the Baidyanathpur police station about the incident.
According to police sources, a woman named Gurubari Nahak had come to the hospital on Saturday with her one-day-old baby for vaccination. The accused had developed friendship with Ms. Nahak and promised to hold the baby while Ms. Nahak went to the counter to collect the outdoor ticket. When Ms. Nahak returned with the outdoor ticket, the accused had vanished from the spot.
